The Backbone

The Smithsonian goes to Oman

Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History — Tue, 26 Mar 2013 08:26:25 -0400

Collections Management Workshop for the Natural History Museum of Oman

February 23-27, 2013, Muscat, Oman

Hanan Al Nabhani showing off a bulbul specimens she prepared

The Natural History Museum of Oman opened at its current location on 20 December 1985, not quite 30 years ago. The young museum consists of a scientific collection and exhibit spaces with examples of indigenous plants, insects, mammals and birds. The current staff of four Museum Specialists has been taking outstanding care of the scientific collections with the means they have. But, with a new Natural History Museum under construction, they needed assistance in updating their practices for the modern space.

Carol Butler, Assistant Director for Collections NMNH, Christina Gebhard, Museum Specialist, Division of Birds NMNH; and John Simmons, President of Museologica and expert in fluid preserved collections, traveled to Oman February 20-28^th to assist the Oman Natural History Museum with collections assessment and care initiatives. This was the third consultation trip the Smithsonian has taken to Oman.

Christina Gebhard teaching how to prepare bird specimens

John Simmons trained Azza Al Jabri and Sheikha Al Shukeili in the care of the fluid preserved specimens. Carol Butler continued assessing the state of the collections and provided an extensive Collections Management Policy. Christina Gebhard trained Azhar Al Hadabi, Hanan Al Nabhani, and Sheikha Al Shukeili in the processing of vertebrate specimens.

With 10 full freezers in the basement and no one skilled in specimen preparation, that the staff is overwhelmed is an understatement. Christina Gebhard assisted the staff in preparing a full freezer inventory and taught preparation techniques for birds and mammals. After a brief skinning tutorial, each student was given a couple of specimens to assess and prepare themselves. The ample contents of the freezers will give them a good start to a comprehensive, valuable synoptic collection of Oman wildlife.

Azza Al Jabari, Sheikha Al Shukeili, Azhar Al Hadabi, Carol Butler, Christina Gebhard, Hanan Al Nabhani, and John Simmons

Azhar and Hanan with their own prepared bird specimens

Emeritus Curator Storrs Olson Honored for Outstanding Research Publication

Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 09:26:18 -0400

Emeritus Curator Storrs Olson with Edwards Prize

At the 125th Conference of the Wilson Ornithological Society, Williamsburg, VA, 7-9 March 2013, the Edwards Prize for best paper in the Wilson Journal of Ornithology for 2012 was awarded to: Storrs L. Olson. 2012. History, structure, evolution, behavior, distribution, and ecology of the extinct Hawaiian genus Ciridops (Fringillidae, Carduelini, Drepanidini), Wilson Journal of Ornithology 124: 651-674.

Boy Scouts of America Report to the Nation Delegation Goes Behind the Scenes at NMNH

Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 14:40:11 -0500

Suzy Peurach with members of the BSA Report to the Nation Delegation. Photo by Dave Hunt.

To inspire future scientists and museum specialists is part of their jobs that Suzy Peurach, USGS Division of Mammals, and NMNH Anthropology colleague, Dave Hunt, find extremely fulfilling. One of their favorite annual outreach efforts involves the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) Report to the Nation Delegation. Every year, as part of their congressional charter, the BSA sends a special delegation of 6 to 10 scouts to present their annual Report the Nation to the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives. The report summarizes the major accomplishments and contributions that the BSA has generated and details the organization, programs and initiatives that the BSA supports.

In keeping with the BSA ideals of public service, the delegation is invited to visit with staff members at various government agencies, including the Pentagon, White House, CIA, congressional offices, U.S. Supreme Court and the Smithsonian. The BSA delegation has met with NMNH staff since 2006 and they were eager to learn about what we actually do in the hidden rooms of the museum.

Official copy of the 2012 Boy Scouts of America Report to the Nation, commemorative medal and coin presented to Suzy and Dave by the Boy Scouts. Photo by Suzy Peurach.

After navigating the winding back corridors to the mammal collection, the scouts gathered around Suzy Peurach as she presented the delegation with a platypus skin, complete with once venomous ankle spurs. This monotreme ambassador served as an example of how museum specialists prepare and maintain many kinds of scientific specimens, including animal skins and bones. An examination of a vampire bat skull sparked a discussion about how these animals are able to use their teeth to cut through cow hide and feed via the anti-coagulant properties of their saliva. Physical Anthropologist Dave Hunt, showed the scouts how early physicians used trepanation, or drilling a hole in the skull, to relieve brain swelling. He also displayed examples of how seemingly devastating skull injuries were able to heal. Through these demonstrations the scouts learned how scientists use museum specimens, some over a hundred years old, to conduct research on anatomy, taxonomy, and species diversity. The scouts seemed pleased with this special tour, and questions abounded about what careers are available at the museum and what it is like working in the field. However, the youngest member of the delegation, a 7 year old scout, wasn’t completely satisfied by the exotic mammal and human skeletal display. He wanted to know A) where was the Tyrannosaurus rex skull and B) where do we keep the crystal skull like the one in Indiana Jones? Can’t win ’em all!

Read the BSA blog to learn more about the 2012 Report to the Nation Delegation

Additional photos of behind the scenes visit available on Flickr

A New Face: Jacob Saucier, Divison of Birds

Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 13:02:55 -0500

Jacob Saucier with Thryothorus Wren

The Division of Birds would like to welcome Museum Specialist, Jacob Saucier, to the Department of Vertebrate Zoology. Jacob comes to us from the University of Wyoming where he is finishing his Master’s degree at the Berry Biodiversity Conservation Center, working on the systematics and phylogeography of Thryothorus wrens.

Jacob is originally from Louisiana and attended Louisiana State University (LSU) as an undergraduate where he developed a scientific interest in birds after taking an Ornithology course from renowned ornithologist James Van Remsen at the LSU Museum of Natural Science. Jacob quickly became skilled in both field and museum ornithology and participated in foreign and local collecting expeditions. Immediately after graduation, Jacob was hired by LSU to database National Park Service specimens collected in Jean Lafitte National Park as part of a broader effort to document NPS specimens in museums.

In addition to his museum studies, Jacob is an active birder and was on the LSU Big Day birdathon 2010 team which set a record for the most species recorded in Louisiana in a single day. This record of 221 species still stands today.

Growing up in Plaucheville, Avoyelles Parish, Jacob spent much of his youth in the outdoors, showing a keen interest in snakes early on. His skills at removing water snakes--genus Nerodia-- from traps on the family crawfish farm were always welcomed. Being from a small town, it may take him a few months to get adjusted to life in DC. He rode a subway for the first time while visiting in mid February! We are sure it won’t take long for him learn what a great city DC can be and when not at the museum, you may see Jacob out birding, hiking, camping, or taking jiu-jitsu classes.

10 questions with Jacob Saucier:

What is your favorite book? – A Parrot Without a Name
Favorite movie? – The Big Lebowski
What is your bird lifelist? – just over 2000
Favorite food? – crawfish étouffée
How many crawfish in a ‘sack’? – ca. 30lbs
Where is the best étouffée in Louisiana? – My grandmother’s house
How often do people refer to you as ‘the saucemaker’? – never, but my nickname is J. Sauce
Were you interested in birds as a kid? – yes, my first binoculars were from my grandparents and I became more interested in birds as a teenager
What was your first impression walking through the museum entrance last week? – disbelief
What are you looking forward to most as you begin your career here at the Smithsonian? – Contributing to the museum collections!

Monograph on Amphibians and Reptiles of Guyana Just Published

Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History — Wed, 06 Feb 2013 09:55:23 -0500

Cole, C. J., C. R. Townsend, R. P. Reynolds, R. D. MacCulloch, and A. Lathrop. 2013. Amphibians and reptiles of Guyana, South America: illustrated keys, annotated species accounts, and a biogeographic synopsis. Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington. 125(4):317-620.

Bob Reynolds, Biological Survey Unit (USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center) at NMNH, Jay Cole and Carol Townsend, American Museum of Natural History, and Ross MacCulloch and Amy Lathrop, Royal Ontario Museum, are the coauthors of a new monograph on the amphibians and reptiles of Guyana, South America. The treatise is based largely on their collective field work in Guyana since the late 1980s.

Leptodactylus pentadactylus, USNM 320986. Photo by William W. Lamar.

Guyana, much of which is pristine and naturally beautiful, has a diverse tropical flora and fauna owing to its varied habitats and long geological history. Cool and moist isolated highlands on mountaintops of the Guiana Shield that have been above sea level for more than a billion years, hot and humid lowland Amazon rain forest, drier tropical savannas, major freshwater rivers, and Atlantic beaches are home to at least 324 species of amphibians and reptiles (137 frogs and toads; 11 caecilians; 4 crocodylians; 4 amphisbaenians; 56 lizards; 97 snakes; and 15 turtles). Many live nowhere else in the world, others are endemic to small areas of Guyana and immediately adjacent sites in neighboring countries.

This is the first publication on any large animal groups of Guyana to include dichotomous identification keys for all species known, documentation of voucher specimens in scientific collections, brief species accounts with suggestions for future research, and a biogeographic synopsis with faunal comparisons of lowland and highland sites throughout the country. Consequently the volume serves both as a field guide for identifying amphibians and reptiles of Guyana and as a modern scientific inventory on the state of our knowledge. The most frequently observed species are illustrated in 40 color plates, most of which include a mosaic of several species. In addition, this work may be used to identify specimens from nearby areas of Brazil, Suriname, and Venezuela.

Anolis planiceps, USNM 321066. Photo by William W. Lamar.

The keys to amphibians and reptiles in one volume, the specific reference to museum voucher specimens, and the biogeographic discussion separate this publication from any other resource for northeastern South America. It will be an essential reference for any one working in herpetology in this region, and the volume’s biogeographic synopsis will broaden its usefulness for other biologists interested in neotropical biogeography.

Rapidly Assessing Marine Biodiversity by Blender: First Steps in Testing Homogenate Analysis

Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History — Tue, 05 Feb 2013 12:58:59 -0500

Juvenile filefish collected from a plankton net in Carrie Bow Cay, Belize. Photo by Carole Baldwin.

Smithsonian researcher Carole Baldwin and LAB Director Lee Weigt, with the support of Cristina Castillo, Maggie Halloran, and Diane Pitassy, devoted part of their December 2012 trip to Carrie Bow Cay, Belize, to the development of ground-truthing protocols for a new marine biodiversity research tool: rapid genetic assessment of biodiversity from homogenized plankton samples. Sorting and identifying individual specimens in a given plankton sample for marine biodiversity assessments is time-consuming. The team asked: can homogenized--or “blenderized”-- plankton samples that comprise a mixture of larval fishes and invertebrates be resolved rapidly into distinct species using new genetic assessment tools such as Next Generation DNA sequencing? Can they do the same with environmental DNA from water samples? From their efforts to genetically barcode the ichthyological fauna of the Caribbean over the past decade, Carole and Lee have a large baseline genetic dataset that can be used to evaluate the success rate of homogenate analysis.

Maggie Halloran collecting an environmental DNA sample near a coral head. Photo by Diane Pitassy

The team aimed to collect a large plankton sample using a fine-mesh net, sort it, photograph and take individual tissue samples from part of each specimen for DNA barcoding and then homogenize the rest of the sample. They conducted two practice runs to work out the kinks in processing work flows. Unfortunately, when the team was ready to pull an all-night marathon for the full sampling test, weather foiled their efforts. An unfortunate shift in wind direction affected the water currents around Carrie Bow and successive sampling over the remaining evenings garnered just a handful of species. Despite the uncooperative wind, the team laid a solid foundation for future ground-truthing efforts.

An Update of Wallace's Zoogeographic Regions of the World

Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History — Tue, 29 Jan 2013 11:34:20 -0500

Credit: AAAS (Science)

Alfred Russel Wallace’s (1876) map of zoogeographical regions of the world was a milestone of 19^th century biogeography. Based on the distributions and taxonomic relationships of mammalian families, Wallace’s classification became a foundation of modern biogeography. An international group of biogeographers, including Gary Graves (Division of Birds), recently published a next-generation map of Wallacean zoogeographic regions, incorporating phylogenetic and distributional data for >20,000 terrestrial vertebrate species. This study, published in Science (4 January 2013), is the first to combine evolutionary and distributional data for most living species of birds, mammals, and amphibians.

In 1876, Alfred Russel Wallace published the first map of global terrestrial zoogeographic regions based on the distribution and taxonomic relationships of mammalian families (Fig. 1). Wallace’s classification became a cornerstone of modern biogeography and a reference for biodiversity studies and conservation science. Wallace divided the world into six terrestrial zoogeographic units largely delineated by what we now know as the continental plates. Wallace’s original regionalization scheme implicitly considered ancestral relationships among species, but subsequent schemes during the past century generally used data only on the contemporary distributions of species without explicitly considering phylogenetic relationships.

Fig. 1. Map of terrestrial zoogeographic regions of the world published in "The Geographic Distributions of Animals" (1876) by Alfred Russel Wallace.

An international group of biogeographers has integrated phylogenetic and distributional data on birds (10,074 species), mammals (4853 species), and amphibians (6110 species) to produce an updated map of Wallacean zoogeographic regions and realms (Holt et al, Science 339, 74-78, 2013). Pairwise phylogenetic beta diversity (pβ) metrics were used to quantify change in phylogenetic composition among species assemblages across the globe. Analyses of combined taxa pβ values identified a total of 20 zoogeographic regions, nested within 11 larger realms, and quantified phylogenetic relatedness among all pairs of realms and regions (Fig. 2). The realms and regions can be viewed on a Google Earth application (kmz file) and a comprehensive summary of the analyses can be downloaded (pdf).

Fig. 2. Map of the terrestrial zoogeographic realms and regions of the world. Zoogeographic realms and regions are the product of analytical clustering of phylogenetic turnover of assemblages of species, including 21,037 species of amphibians, nonpelagic birds, and nonmarine mammals. Dashed lines delineate the 20 zoogeographic regions identified in this study. Thick lines group these regions into 11 broad-scale realms, which are named. Color differences depict the amount of phylogenetic turnover among realms. Dotted regions have no species records, and Antarctica was not included in the analyses.

The Australian, Madagascan, and South American regions support the most phylogenetically distinctive assemblages of terrestrial vertebrates. These evolutionarily unique regions harbor radiations of species from several clades that are either restricted to a given region or found in only a few regions. The combined taxa map (Fig. 2) differs from previously published global zoogeographic maps derived exclusively from data on the distribution of vertebrate species. For example, central and eastern Siberia are phylogenetically more similar to the arctic parts of the Nearctic region than to other parts of the Palearctic. As a result, the newly defined Palearctic realm extends into the northern part of the Western Hemisphere.

The new classification of zoogeographic regions exhibits some interesting similarities with Wallace’s original classification, as well as some important differences. For example, Wallace classified islands east of Borneo and Bali in his Australian region, which is analogous to our Oceanian and Australian realms combined. In contrast, at least some of these islands (e.g., Sulawesi) belong to our Oriental realm, which spans Sundaland, Indochina, and India. Moreover, our Oceanian realm is separate from the Australian realm and includes New Guinea together with the Pacific islands, whereas Wallace lumped these two biogeographic units into the Australian region. The strait between Borneo and Sulawesi, now known as “Wallace’s Line,” was a major barrier to dispersal that greatly inhibited exchanges between the Australian and Asian land masses. Much debate subsequently arose regarding the precise location of the principal faunal divide between Wallace’s Oriental and Australian realms. Our analyses lend the strongest support to the hypothesis of Weber (1902), who positioned this boundary east of Sulawesi, corresponding to the zoogeographic boundary separating our Oriental and Oceanian realms. However, our taxon-specific geographic delineation for birds is more consistent with Wallace’s line than Weber’s.

The delineation of and relationships among our zoogeographic regions differ among taxa (Fig. 3). We found more distinctive regions for mammals (n = 34 regions) than for amphibians or birds (both n = 19 regions). A comparison of pβ matrices across the three vertebrate taxa revealed that amphibian assemblages located in the northeastern Arctico-Siberian, southern African, and Madagascan regions are more phylogenetically distinct than those of birds or mammals for the same regions. Moreover, the Australian region harbors more phylogenetically distinct assemblages of amphibians and mammals relative to birds.

The new delineation of the zoogeographic regions of the world appears robust to the type and quality of distributional and phylogenetic data used. Inclusion of additional phylogenetic information on branch length or improved resolution of the phylogenetic trees has the potential to facilitate a finer delineation of regions within realms. The inclusion of data (when they become available) on reptiles and invertebrates may also affect the boundaries of zoogeographic realms and regions. Nevertheless, the maps presented here delineate robust zoogeographic units for vertebrates that can be scaled within specific continents and/or taxonomic clades. Due to these qualities, our analytical approach and zoogeographic maps provide a baseline for a wide variety of comparative ecological, biogeographic, evolutionary, and conservation-based studies.

Fig. 3. Maps of terrestrial zoogeographic regions of the world based on data for (A) amphibians (6110 species), (B) birds (10,074 species), and (C) nonmarine mammals (4853 species). Color differences depict the relative amount of phylogenetic turnover among regions within each taxonomic clade.

Citation:

Ben G. Holt, Jean-Philippe Lessard, Michael K. Borregaard, Susanne A. Fritz, Miguel B. Araújo, Dimitar Dimitrov, Pierre-Henri Fabre, Catherine H. Graham, Gary R. Graves, Knud A. Jønsson, David Nogués-Bravo, Zhiheng Wang, Robert J. Whittaker, Jon Fjeldså, and Carsten Rahbek. 2013. An Update of Wallace's Zoogeographic Regions of the World Science 339 (6115), p74-78, published online 20 December 2012 (10.1126/science.1228282).

Download Holt et al (2012) Science--An update of Wallace's zoogeographic regions of the world

Smithsonian and California Academy of Sciences Researchers Investigate the Impact of Invasive Lionfish on Marine Fauna in Belize

Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 23:40:42 -0500

Lionfish hovering among mangrove roots at Twin Cays, Belize. Photo by Diane Pitassy.

Carole Baldwin, Lee Weigt, Diane Pitassy, Cristina Castillo, and Maggie Halloran-Fagan, Smithsonian Institution teamed with Luiz Rocha, California Academy of Sciences, in Belize in mid–December 2012 to survey the shallow inner reefs near Carrie Bow Cay for two marine fish species: the threatened endemic Halichoeres socialis, the Social Wrasse, and the predatory invasive Pterois volitans, the native Indo-Pacific Red Lionfish. Social Wrasse populations occupy ecologically sensitive shallow coral reefs and mangroves and are known only from the Pelican Cays, a group of small mangrove islands and sand bores south of Carrie Bow Cay. Coastal development has negatively impacted these ecosystems. Baldwin and Rocha had previously observed abundant coral and other reef life at one of the Pelican Cays where, instead, the December research team found a slope smothered with sediment and little or no life. For the Social Wrasse, the threat of habitat loss is compounded by the recent introduction of the invasive lionfish to coastal Belizean habitats. Lionfish were first seen in Belize in 2008 and today are common along the Barrier Reef. They are a massive threat to the native fauna because nothing is known to eat them in large quantities. Larger predatory Caribbean fish have not yet developed a taste for the lionfish which protect themselves with venomous spines. And lionfish eat seemingly any bite-size fish or invertebrate that wanders within their range.

Ouch! Dr. Carole Baldwin’s hand after receiving a puncture from a lionfish spine. Photo by Luiz Rocha.

To confirm whether Social Wrasse is a preferred food of the Red Lionfish, the dive team collected lionfish of various sizes throughout the Pelican Cays. An early discovery of the team was that the spines are also an effective weapon against scientific researchers! Both Carole and Luiz were punctured by venomous lionfish spines on the same day. Carole says “agony” is too weak a word to describe the temporary effects of the neurotoxin. Even with the lead investigators briefly disabled, the team was able to collect several dozen lionfish from the shallow inner reefs and examine their stomach contents. The Social Wrasse was clearly a prey item, but genetic analysis is required to confirm identification of many of the semi-digested samples. Luiz Rocha documented the preliminary findings of this survey for the New York Times. To read his entire blog series click here. In a culinary twist, lionfish became a popular menu item for the researchers at dinner time. The meat is light and flavorful. Encouraging restaurants to serve lionfish may be one way to curb the ever-growing populations.

Read Luiz Rocha's New York Times Scientist at Work Blog

Lionfish sashimi. Photo by Carole Baldwin.

Research station at Carrie Bow Cay, Belize. Photo by Diane Pitassy.

The social wrasse, Halichoeres socialis. Photo by Luiz Rocha.

Enigmatic Peruvian opossum gets a scientific name.

Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History — Thu, 24 Jan 2013 09:43:50 -0500

Monodelphis gardneri (Photo courtesy Fabrice Schmitt)

In 1987 Al Gardner (USGS-SI) collected the first specimen of a tiny striped opossum in a cloud forest of Peru, thousands of km away (and thousands of meters up) from other similar-looking short-tailed opossums. Over the years, six more were taken, including two collected in 1997 by Louise Emmons (Mammals-SI), who has co-authored its description as a new species, after enough work had finally been done on the genus to allow comparison (Monodelphis gardneri Solari, Pacheco, Vivar and Emmons, 2012). The new species is named to honor its first collector.

Tiny Peruvian opossum comes from a great big family

Secretary of Commerce Awards Dr. Bruce Collette Gold Medal for Leadership

Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 16:55:51 -0500

Dr. Bruce Collette with Gold Medal Award certificate. Photo by Ruth Gibbons.

Dr. Bruce B. Collette, Senior Research Scientist at NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) Systematics Laboratory and longtime Smithsonian colleague, was awarded an individual Gold Medal for Leadership by the Secretary of Commerce for establishing the first use of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature's Red List Criteria on commercial marine species. Bruce’s exceptional efforts in this regard have led to better conservation and management measures for endangered and at risk tuna and marlin species. The award was presented on January 8th at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center. The Gold Medal is the highest honor awarded by the Secretary of Commerce. Congratulations to Bruce!